If John Cena ends up fighting Kane at Wrestlemania…well you get the idea. Still putting the pieces together for Wrestlemania, this week’s RAW was a work in progress that never really came together. A watered-down but still fun version of Matt Hardy’s awesome TNA gimmick couldn’t save things either.
Matches:
Asuka vs. WWE RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss w/Mickie James: A lengthy match with no payoff as Bliss decided to walk out on the match and get counted out. Thankfully Nia Jax hit the ring and beat on Jax and James a bit before Bliss was able to escape.
Braun Strowman vs. WWE RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro w/WWE RAW Tag Team Champion Sheamus: Cesaro more than held his own, but Strowman won with the Powerslam.
Apollo Crews and Titus O’Neil w/Dana Brooke vs. The Revival: Dash Wilder and Scot Dawson: The Revival made quick work of Crews, beating him with the Shatter Machine.
Bayley and Sasha Banks vs. Absolution: Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose w/Paige: Absolution got the win mainly because Banks and Bayley couldn’t get on the same page.
Intercontinental Champion The Miz, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas vs. Finn Balor, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson: A mediocre main event that saw Balor get the win on Miz, but Axel and Dallas get the upper hand before Seth Rollins made the save.
The Ultimate Deletion: Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt: Who would have thought TNA’s cameras would film better than the WWE’s? Watered-down, blurry and not nearly as over the top, the WWE screwed this all up. While some of the shots were compelling, the lack of Reby and Signor Benjamin, in the beginning, hurt the overall appeal. At one point, it felt like a Scooby Doo spoof. It would be a lie to say it wasn’t entertaining though as Benjamin and Jeff played a role in distracting Wyatt long enough for Matt to hit the Twist of Fate for the win.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
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